Munde’s anti-Cong unity call gets equal scorn on Maharashtra right.
There are no takers so far, and that includes his own Bharatiya Janata Party’s leadership, for Gopinath Munde’s public suggestion to include the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the existing BJP-Shiv Sena alliance to take on the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the next election to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in 2012 and the state assembly elections slated for 2014.
None of the three parties he wants in the grand alliance have supported Munde, a leading light of the state BJP and now the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha. In fact, the BJP’s national head, Nitin Gadkari, himself from Mahrashtra, had earlier given the opposite suggestion, telling the rank and file they should be prepared to contest elections on their own, minus the Shiv Sena if need be, if they were serious about wanting to come to power. This when the BJP-SS alliance is over two decades old.
Munde’s call can also be seen as an indication of his political differences with Gadkari, and a bid to shore up his position in the state party. It also has a pragmatic appeal — the saffron alliance had lost as many as 66 of the 288 seats in the state assembly elections of October 2009 due to division of votes with the MNS. The latter won only 13 seats but played a spoiler in 53 others where Sena-BJP candidates were defeated, allowing the Congress-NCP alliance to assume power for the third time since 1999. It was a similar story in the parliamentary elections of May 2009. Many party workers would say it makes common sense to stop splitting the anti-Congress vote repeatedly.
On the other hand, the Shiv Sena’s antipathy at the MNS, each claiming to be the real repository of the Maharashtrians-first ideology and accusing the other of betrayal, is visceral. And, vice versa. While senior Shiv Sena leaders haven’t come on record, those who have have suggested that Munde quit the BJP and join the SS if he was serious about uniting pro-Hindutva forces to unseat the Congress. It may be recalled that MNS founder-head Raj Thackeray's recent decision to informally visit the BJP's state headquarters to have a cup of tea with leaders there had come under strong attack from the SS. The protest went all the way up to veteran BJP leader L K Advani, who had to intervene.
Nor has the MNS been grateful or commendatory. It has said it need not be taken for granted in this manner and that the BJP was just desperate to come to power by this way or that, as it was unable to move the common man. MNS, in contrast, went the claim, had never taken any decision with a sole intention of coming to power.
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A BJP state executive leader, who did not want to be identified, told Business Standard: “Munde, being a shrewd politician, chose to assess the mood not only within the party but in the Sena and the MNS, too. The timing is crucial, especially when the election to the BMC is slated for 2012. Munde knows the coming civic election will be a test case and if a grand alliance comes to existence, it will help avoid division of votes. ”
As for the ruling Congress-NCP, both have said Munde’s been day dreaming.